Apocalypse Revisited
by Chaos Blade
Summary: A.U. crossover with X-Com, though knowledge of the X-Com games is not needed. Feedback is apreciated.
1. Prologue: Of three wars

Well. I guess some explanations are in order. What follows is an A.U. EVA/X-Com crossover, set approximately ten years after X-Com Apocalypse; its place within the EVA timeline will be rather apparent. Knowledge of the X-Com games are not needed to appreciate this fic, as it is the more obscure of both elements. I will provide the necessary explanations as this fic goes on.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor the games of the X- Com saga.  
  
****  
  
Prologue: Of Three Wars  
  
If one were to look at the earth today, it would be hard to think that it is mankinds home world. It would be hard to imagine this planet as a living, thriving world with tropical rainforests and lakes, and those large green fields the old pictures and movies show. Outside Mega-Primus there is nothing like this. It was too long ago, but perhaps one day it shall be like that again. And contrary to what one might think; it wasn't mankind's fault.  
  
At the end of the twentieth century we were well underway towards an ecological collapse, and the first alien war didn't help much. But in this, mankind didn't have a choice. It is said that this particular war had been going on for several years prior. But it is generally accepted that January 1st 1999 was the official beginning of the war. That is the day that the first of the X-COM bases begun operations.  
  
At this time, and throughout the three wars, X-COM operated as a small covert organization. It is always quite amazing to see the small number of military personnel, as opposed to the numerous scientists and engineers the X-COM bases possessed. Victory was achieved through intelligent combat tactics, since anything else would have resulted in a bloodbath (ours). We simply didn't have the technology to fight the aliens head on. Whilst X-COM did develop technology that would allow us to do so, adapting production lines and equipping military units with it would have taken far too long and would have drawn the attention of the aliens. That's not even taking into account the extremely limited supplies of elerium X-COM had during the war. It barely kept their equipment operational, let alone having an excess to send to other military units. They even had barely enough of this rare element to fuel their advanced (for their time) craft.  
  
After several years of hostilities, X-COM finally learned of the main enemy base in Cydonia, Mars. Several legends have been born of that battle, but what is known is that it was savage and desperate. But in the end the alien biological computer (dubbed by the X-COM scientists as "The Brain") was reduced to a steaming pile of organic matter, and shortly there after the main enemy base was eradicated with a powerful thermonuclear device planted by the retreating X-COM soldiers.  
  
After the war, the technology level allowed for a reconstruction, even with the economical recession caused by elerium depletion in the early twenties, and by the ´40s all but the deepest of scars were gone. But those were prior to the war, and were well on their way to recovery. To the younger generations, the ghost of the first war was far, far away... This way of thinking had lead to the dissolution of X-COM in the early twenties, though unknown to many it kept operating as the SORESO; the private organization that looked after X-COM's recovery of the UFOs downed over the seas of earth. This was an attempt to recover the power cores of these downed craft and extract what elerium they could still contain.  
  
Then the second war broke out, but this time the alien forces were already on earth, as they had been since the 400 billion tons of the colony ship, T'Leth had crash landed here, some 65 million years ago, deep in the oceans of earth. When the X-COM forces had raided the alien base in Cydonia, and destroyed the "brain" that controlled the invasion forces, a tachyon beam had been detected aimed towards the Earth. Most analysts assumed that it was a desperate call for reinforcements from the Martian base to the alien's planet side bases.  
  
They were, of course, dead wrong. The intelligence that controlled the first invasion had its reasons in not using T'Leth's forces as a fifth column. This had puzzled many military analysts; that was until we found out about the 'Horror,' the supreme alien intelligence that controlled the colony ship and its crew. The same intelligence that had for millennia shaped the fate of earth, and had very likely shaped us, while at the same time working its agenda, what ever it was. The Horror had reengineered the crew of T'Leth to fit the new deep-sea medium, and took it a step further. Over the years the aliens built outposts throughout the world and tried to contact their stellar cousins... apparently to no avail.  
  
This war made the previous one pale in comparison. The ruthless and desperate struggle between two enemies that had no mercy for each other created staggering casualties and incalculable damage. It officially initiated on January 10, 2045, and raged on for over five bloody years. It wasn't until X-COM forces stormed the massive colony ship at precisely 10:35, GMT that victory was obtained. The then rising colony ship, which to our standards was more like a dreadnought, with incalculable amounts of armor and weaponry was on its way to stellar space when it was infiltrated by elite X-COM agents. This elite unit battled their way to the Horror's chamber and destroyed the beast before it could be reawakened from its cryostatic dream, the dreamless sleep from which neither alive nor dead the horror controlled its forces as if they were an appendage to him.  
  
Of course that's the precise time the colony ship become a not so short lived fireball, and earth's fate became sealed. The threat was over, without the horror commanding from its sleep, the alien forces that remained become inefficient, and lost the unity and oneness it had while attacking, and those that didn't die from the shock where easy picking for the experienced aquanauts.  
  
But ultimately it didn't really matter.  
  
The destruction of the colony ship released a large amount of unidentifiable gases, which pretty much wiped out most life around the Gulf of Mexico (and the newly formed bay of T´Leth near where New Orleans used to exist). We now know that the horror was preparing for either the terraforming of earth, or using biological weapons against us. We also know that when T'Leth was destroyed, Zirbite became inactive. On the plus it meant that everything powered by Zirbite had been rendered powerless, from the tinniest weapon to the largest colony. An even more decisive victory than the one obtained beneath Cydonia nearly forty years prior, this time completely crippling the Zirbite dependant enemy. It is also ironic that this very fact was the one that finished damning us. No power in the alien's sub aquatic colonies meant no containment fields. We don't know from how many of these submarine sites the bio-chem 'soup' originated. We don't even know the soup's composition; apparently it mixed with the water rather quickly, though its effects took their time to make themselves known.  
  
But X-COM and mankind ignored it, until, of course, it was too late. Then again, it would have been too late even I they had known right away. The lack of control over the chemicals was perhaps the only thing that gave us a chance of survival. The damage was done and there was little to do, but attempt damage control... and perhaps delay the unavoidable. Some chose to leave toward the colonies, others didn't have a choice at all, they were unable to leave, and thus were stuck on a planet unable to sustain its overgrown population. The stories of that period were of despair and death. As the earth approached complete ecological collapse, the agricultural output decreased. It was bad enough when the ocean farms were out of the picture, but their land counterparts quickly become affected, as the ozone layer collapsed, and the rest of the biome suffered similarly.  
  
By the early fifties only the domed farms were able to produce somewhat edible foodstuffs, though barely enough to sustain a population using rationing, but improvement in that area was not possible at that time. Most of earth resources where involved in the construction of the first self- sufficient megalopolis, the Mega-Primus project. It was a colossal project that taxed the remaining usable resources of earth, and those of the frontier, and took well over twenty years to complete. By that time it was already populated to capacity, and the remaining buildings of old Toronto that were still standing were quickly inhabited as well. A few years later, all but the most isolated of places were abandoned, by then only military bases with orbital capability and a few scientific outposts were still populated outside the city walls. But for all ends and purposes the remaining empty spaces on Earth were a very cheap real state with no true use, and no demand.  
  
Speaking of the dimensional war would be hard. I'm biased as I have lived though it first hand as part of X-COM, and I must say I do not regret it. Why X-COM would want an old historian like myself; well, who knows. I suppose having someone keeping a chronicle was convenient and having a walking repository of past history was useful too. I must say that in all my years, I have never met a bunch of people like them. From the combat personnel to those who staffed the labs, I have no words to truly describe what it is like; the camaraderie, and the animosity, this from people that faced death on a daily basis. I did read about the old X-COM logs, and found something similar, and yet we faced even worse odds. I served my time in the American Federation, in the post T'Leth forties, and it was hell. I was in one of the worst periods, and remember being stationed in the base with leaves suspended indefinitely, and after two months of that we where ready to mutiny...  
  
Let us say that in the end X-COM came out on top. About half of Mega- Primus was a burnt wreck, and that was the time Marsec and the other big corps decided to make their move against X-COM and the senate. Most of their technology was by then obsolete, when compared to the tech fielded by X-COM, and X-COM was already marketing the non-combat tech. Some advanced Back staving if you ask me, would have worked better if X-COM didn't had months to prepare themselves. Of course they also had Megapol on their side (yes the rivalry between Marsec and Megapol was a factor, but not the decisive factor. That was when X-COM allied with Megapol and became their research associate, and since they had access to disrupter technology, they managed to produce the disrupter pistol, and the new Mk IV), so by the time the dust settled, the city's and mankind's status quo had changed.  
  
Well then came yet another reconstruction period. The cement is still fresh, the city is newly painted, and it will last, perhaps. Hobbes once said "Homo Homini Lupus" man is wolf of man, and for most of our history, this quote has been, sadly, very accurate. So we shall see.  
  
Or perhaps X-Com is right, the Wanderer project is ready to begin, and if correct it is our only chance. Of course the Micronoid might have the advantage, or not, but in searching beyond our own universe, we might find ourselves out of the pan and into the fire. To quote, yet again "time will tell" and that is all I can think about this.  
  
-----Aristotele Larsic, Mega Primus, October 17th 2093  
An extract from "an essay on the X" 


	2. Chapter 1

This is an A.U. Neon Genesis Evangelion/X-COM crossover, set ten years after the end of X-COM: Apocalypse. I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor the X-CCM games.  
  
This fic is still in beta status. Regretfully I am in dire need of feedback, and pre readers so I am publishing this. I'd appreciate any sort of comment or advice that can be given on the fic. On any case the crossover should get in 'full gear' as to speak in the next chapter  
  
*****  
  
Chapter one - The First Step forward  
  
The first of the Starlance class cruiser, the Starlance itself, disturbed the emptiness of LaGrange point five of the earth sun system. The stable point was chosen as the first leg in the ships journey for many reasons, though mainly because it was out of the way. The science team could probably add their own share of reasons, far more pertinent and most probably incomprehensible to those without a degree in science.  
  
The Starlance was a formidable starship, designed to withstand not only the hard and extreme conditions of space, but also a mission which would be far more demanding. It was also the first ship of the so called Wanderer project, the first fully manned mission operational ship. It was a big step up from the automated probes, or the small scale exploration barge fitted with the "shifter" that had been used as the final test of the dimensional shifter device.  
  
In the hopes of gaining a better understanding of the inter-dimensional space, and as part of a massive effort to determine the magnitude of the Micronoid threat, those were the basic guidelines of the mission. It could be considered a scientific expedition, at least by the Senate, but the true power of the disrupter weapons and antimatter missiles (whilst scarce for a ship of its tonnage), not to mention the ship's small compliment of assault craft, spoke differently.  
  
Theirs was a very difficult mission, probably even suicide by some standards. They were going at it alone, towards a potentially hostile zone, in a rather experimental craft. Yes it was top of the line, cutting edge technology, but on the other hand the reliability of the systems was still in doubt. This, added with the lack of battle testing, could leave the craft in a rather complicated situation with no chance of back up of any kind. But it was needed, and there was little option there.  
  
But they were X-COM.  
  
Commander Rene Bastough, the mission commander, like most of his crew had been preparing for this mission for the past five years. Knowing what was truly at stake here, it also implied that there was no room for errors and definitely no second chances. He knew and had worked with most of the core crew for the better part of the past five years, and while most of them where highly capable, most also lacked real combat experience. The fact that X-COM itself had seen no combat action in the last decade was mainly responsible for this, but still, it was a matter for concern. No training, no drill can even begin to imitate the realities of a combat. They were being sent alone, to scout ahead, to prove to a measure what the X-Command, X-COM High Command to the uninitiated, had been insisting for the past decade; that the Micronoid threat was still an active danger to mankind, if not to the universe.  
  
****  
  
The Command Bridge was one of the most heavily armored and protected areas of the Starlance, second only to the engineering main. Unlike some old sci- fi stories would show, the bridge was several decks from the outside hull and it was neither dark, nor badly lit. It was relatively small, true, but it was as big as required. A circular design with one access point, though several emergency hatches, with the senior stations arranged through out its perimeter, each of them built onto a small depression.  
  
The exception to this was the command station, located near the center and slightly to the right of the bridge, which was slightly higher, surrounded with a perimeter wall barely half a meter in height, and a couple of access points toward the front. Designers had included that particularity, to be used as a defensive point against potential raiders, or a last line for a far grimmer situation. And despite the purification plants, the bridge still smelled new.  
  
"All systems green."  
  
Well this was show time, thought Rene Bastough, lowering the safety harness of his chair, as the crew went on with the final checklist.  
  
"Engineering reports shifter in stand-by."  
  
"Opening a commlink to the X-Command,"  
  
The main screen in Bastough's console was filled with the face of a Caucasian woman with blonde-white hair and brown eyes. Nora Varnek was her name, but most in X-COM referred to her as Commander or Commander in Chief. To put it simply, she was the boss. While out of place in the comm station, it wasn't any day a ship prepared to leave towards the literary unknown. Odds were that she was sending them to their deaths, but it was all part of the job.  
  
In his best command voice Commander Bastough started speaking.  
  
"This is Commander Rene Bastough ac-53121b, requesting authorization to initiate Wanderer mission."  
  
"This is Commander in Chief Varnek, ac-52425a, Wanderer mission is a go. Good luck to you and your men Commander, you'll probably need it. X- Command out," and with that the screen returned to be filled by the X-COM's logo  
  
"All pressure doors closed and checked."  
  
"You heard our boss," Rene then looked towards the comm officer. "Patch me to the PA system."  
  
"Sure boss," the woman manning the senior comm station lazily replied while she complied with the order.  
  
"All personnel in combat stations," informed a voice from off to the side. In the background the final list continued.  
  
All in all, Commander Bastough was not into long speeches, or speeches of any kind, but it was something that was expected of the situation. "This is commander Bastough, we are about to initiate the shifter activation. Ladies and gentlemen we are about to make history. That is all." Although internally Bastough was wondering if they'd live to see it.  
  
"Initiating activation sequence."  
  
"Initiating final countdown ten..." "Nine." "Eight."  
  
"Power build up has reached safety borderline."  
  
"Seven." "Six." "Five." "Four."  
  
"Modulation set to target."  
  
"Three." "Two."  
  
"Shifter active."  
  
"One..."  
  
And in a second all went white, which was strange. Those on board that had been part of the raiding teams back in the war knew what the effect of the gates was and expected something similar, and in part they were correct. This wasn't how it should have been.  
  
Of course, there was no real time to argue, or complain, it was very fast, and oblivion unforgiving.  
  
****  
  
The first thing Matias Alaris felt was his face against his battle armors helmet. It took him a while just to focus on the sensors of the armor, even though the action was a reflex, and that in itself aptly demonstrated just how he felt; completely dizzy, tired and with a headache the size of an Overspawn. Standing up was an adventure on its own, a quick and relatively simple one, but an adventure none the less, and the ships artificial gravity was as relentless and unforgiving as the planeside one.  
  
He had secured himself in one of the corridor's hard points that had been designed as a safe point for personnel in the case the ship had to do an emergency hyperspace jump. It was part of the precautions taken, having a small compliment of battle ready soldiers prepared and on stand by, stationed throughout the ship in the intersections of the corridors and other key points  
  
Apparently the restrains hadn't been tested enough, since somehow they (well his) gave way, and his armored self was literally tossed like a rag doll. That was the strange part. He had been briefed that the use of the shifter was not like 'jumping' through the gates. The ship actually passed through the interdimensional space, while the gates were more of a polished two way line, that twisted normal space through interdimensional space. It did not explain why a five ton resistant restraint had given away so easily, considering that his battle armor was nowhere near one ton (250 kg actually). He was friends with the Noriko girl from the science compliment, perhaps, she could explain it. Of course it was also a reason to see her.  
  
But he had to get to the bridge, and fast. It was his duty as the commander of the military personnel of the mission, and this position had warranted his promotion to colonel, and with a whole lot of responsibilities included. It also meant that he was in the secondary order of battle, but this was a Wanderer mission regulation, not X-COM's. Of course, there were always ways to go around a reg; but right now that didn't matter. It was obvious that something went wrong, and of the two choice locations to find out what exactly what that was, the main bridge was the closest one.  
  
****  
  
To say the bridge was in chaos was an understatement. Most of the power was out, and only the emergency lights and a few of the stations systems where still in working order. Bastough's harness seemed to have fared better than that of Colonel Alaris,' but even so, he still had a choice word or two about the efficiency of the harness system.  
  
Most of the senior crew was unconscious at their stations, being helped by the security detail. It was going to be a long day.  
  
****  
  
"And you suggest we abort? You have no idea of what you are saying!" the chief engineer, Miram Sakayori barked  
  
"I know very well what I'm suggesting. We are right now very screwed up; one third of our crew is unconscious, not to mention the fact that about twenty of our best psykers are downright comatose. This WAS NOT supposed to happen! Hell it never happened in the prototypes!" Colonel Alaris paused, in an effort to try to calm himself down. Losing patience was not going to help his case.  
  
"More importantly, the pulse damaged the ships neural net, and you of all people would know how badly that'll affect the ship's abilities."  
  
"Don't try to tell me," Miriam angrily pointed at herself. "What is or isn't about this ship!" she then moved closer to him and looked dead onto his eyes. Her ship was her pride; some would even say her child, but not aloud nor near her. It was just not healthy.  
  
Commander Bastough had remained silent through most of the meeting. As captain of the ship and commander of the mission, he had certain guidelines, but this mission in particular redefined most of the standard manual of operations. He had to trust his men, and they had to trust him, starting the mission this way was a bad omen. But he had his priorities, X- COM did too.  
  
"There is too much at stake to even consider it," he calmly stated and paused awaiting the maelstrom.  
  
"What the..." Colonel Alaris quickly caught up with his mouth "SIR?!" however the surprise was equally mirrored by most of the command crew.  
  
"We cannot return empty handed to the senate," Rene looked towards his head scientist "Duerio... I want a report on the shifter and what the hell happened back there."  
  
"Will do," the elderly scientist calmly responded. Vitorio Duerio was one of X-COM's oldest and most experienced scientists, a person capable of remaining calm and centered even in the worst of situations.  
  
"Commander? You think is wise for us..." Colonel Alaris tried once more.  
  
"Colonel Alaris, I'm afraid that that decision would have very negative repercussions. We cannot just give up by something as small as that." Though Matias Alaris was probably right, it wasn't as if that alternative was in any way viable, or else there was the risk of the senate scrubbing the project.  
  
"Miriam," he continued in his cool demeanor, looking towards his chief engineer. "I need estimates of repairs... I'll set priorities once I have the reports." She nodded lightly at her commander.  
  
"But Rene! How are we going to operate..." started the ship's CAG (commander air group), Pieter Long, in an effort to support Alaris. It was simple; the both of them had the responsibility for their personnel, while Bastough had overall responsibility. While this was definitely not a democracy, their opinions weighted somewhat, but it seemed that in this particular situation it didn't weigh all that much. But he still had to try  
  
"Commander, this is Chambers, err sir... better get back up here quick." And as simple as that the meeting was ended.  
  
****  
  
We could say that a man who had fought his way through any of the alien wars had seen pretty much everything. Rene Bastough was a veteran of the last war and had seen his fare share of strange and disturbing experiences, from the insidious brainsuckers to the towering Overspawns. The latter had inadvertently caused a rather unexpected revival of the giant monster genre, as the Sensovision corporation could not (and would not) lose a chance as potentially lucrative as that one.  
  
The Earth look-alike (there were still doubts as to how much of a parallel earth it was and with most of his science team working on the shifter, that was going to have to wait... or not) was probably one of the largest surprises he had ever experienced. Parallel earths had been reviewed by X- Command as something possible but unlikely, after all there was just a very faint chance of that happening, 0.00000001 % more or less. Right, he just had to think it in that way. If anything, X-COMers were profound Murphists, that is to say they tended to took Murphy's law as some sort of gospel.  
  
"What the..."  
  
In the window there was an... Overspawn? No it was too humanoid for that, the skin and pigmentation were all wrong and way too smooth... but it was fighting a similar purple creature, or was it some sort of synthetic construct? It looked rather shiny and smooth.... still it had way to many animalistic features, like the teeth, to be such.... and then as the purple figure landed on top of the other more irregular creature, a blinding flash filled the "screen" but once it had died out, amongst the devastation the purple clad creature still stood. There were many things going all at once in the Commander's mind... the biggest one was that the mission parameters had suddenly changed  
  
"When the hell did this happen?  
  
"I thought it was a practical joke; that is until I picked up the energy signature of the blast," finished Chambers pale as chalk.  
  
The rest of the bridge crew where in a similar state... this was a most ominous beginning for the mission.  
  
Oh yeah, a long day indeed.  
  
****  
  
Meanwhile on earth, beneath the Fortress city of Tokyo-3, in a massive bunker beneath the Geofront, a science team was reviewing the sensor data of the battle that had taken a few hours ago.  
  
"Saoko?" Tanikawa Junichi tentatively called for his superior, as tired as he was, he was still not quite believing his eyes.  
  
"Yes?" Kitamura Saoko was not in a good mood. They had been already working double shifts due to the lack of personnel when the alert came. By then she was exhausted, both mentally and physically and wanted to get the preliminary analysis done with it ASAP, and not just because of the deadline they were facing. It should be noted that their section chief was a merciless taskmaster, but mostly because she needed to get out, out of the base and more importantly the Geofront.  
  
"I think you better take a look at this."  
  
"What about it?" she asked in a bored tone.  
  
"Look," his assistant said pointing at his screen.  
  
In the screen the pattern variation was seen fluctuating. For a split second it was seen to rise up beyond the scale in the whole spectrum, before dropping back to background.  
  
"So? That is at 1732, must be the N2."  
  
"No, it isn't, I thought so too at first, but the time is wrong and the pattern is very different, I was at the test sites. But that's not it."  
  
"What then?"  
  
"Check the sensor map... see? It is not coming from there; actually, it isn't coming from anywhere local." Saoko's face was drained of all its color; this was not good, actually it was bad, very bad.  
  
"I... I think the Sub-Commander has to see this," she stated while trying to remain calm  
  
"I agree, go call him, I'll try to triangulate in the meantime," responded Junichi while he went back to his station. As long as he concentrated on the problem, he was not going to think about the possible repercussions.  
  
It was going to be a very long day.  
  
*****  
  
Well, that's for now, I think I am going to drop this chapter here, there are a few scenes that might just be revised in the future. But without any feedback it has become very hard for me to progress any further (at all?) oh yeah, and uh... please apologies for the grammar, I am still looking for pre readers or proof readers.  
  
A big thanks goes to Ezstarius who did the pre reading for this. 


	3. Chapter 2

I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, neither the X-COM games. 

****

Chapter Two: Imperfect time

Captain Katsuragi was what many would consider as being an odd person. She was with out doubt one of the best tactical minds the JSSDF had ever seen, and was NERV's director of operations.  Her swift ascension to such a position in the paramilitary organisation was impressive in and of itself, and spoke plenty of her dedication to her work.  On the other hand, her off duty life was definitely not what can be expected, especially from a woman.  Anyone close enough to her could tell you that, not that there are all that many who are.  For one she was a relatively new arrival to Tokyo-3, though perhaps more importantly, it is rather lonely at the top.

In any case, she was not having a good day.  Initially Misato was going to go with a team of the science division to ground zero, but apparently that was not meant to be.  Not that she'd really complain about missing that trip though. Internally she had been trying to find an excuse to sit that one out.  Those hostile environment suits were a pain to wear, and their temperature control was dubious at best.

Now she had to report to one of the briefing rooms in the D-22 sector.  Whatever the cause, it couldn't be good.  Sudden changes, especially in a military outfit like NERV, were never good.  D-22 was one of the secure briefings reserved for delicate or command level briefings. It was definitely something major. 

If only she could find the briefing room.  She so needed to get fully acquainted with the layout of the base

**** 

Inside the briefing room, there were only a handful of persons. She immediately recognized Dr Akagi who looked like she shared Misato's opinion of the situation, some senior techs, and of course the Sub Commander, whom was probably going to address the briefing, considering he was standing behind the podium. There were others, and while she could place a few faces as part of section four's (science division, section four) number crunchers. Truth was she did not have much time to positively identify them as she made her way to an empty chair close to the podium. One has to know when to cut their loses.

"Now that the Captain is here," Fuyutsuki Kozo started "We'll be begin this briefing.

First I must stress the seriousness of the situation, and remind you all that what you hear within this room must stay within this room," the sub commander paused to clear his throat.

"Yesterday night, one of our analysis teams were performing a preliminary analysis on the data collected from our first encounter with the third angel," he said, motioning toward the section four personnel in the back of the room. 

"They detected a slight anomaly in the sensor's log for the engagement at 1732," the NERV officer paused for a moment. 

"The problem lies not in the anomaly itself, it is something we need to look after, but the problem now is the location." The sub commander paused for a moment, as if trying to find the adequate words before continuing. 

"Triangulation of the signal places the anomaly originating in or around L5."  The room temperature seemed to drop a degree or two after that last statement, well at least for those that had been able to follow the conversation.

"Uh… L5?" meekly asked Captain Katsuragi

"Quite outside earth's orbit, I am afraid," calmly responded Fuyutsuki 

"We have a military sat in an appropriate orbit to get a look at it, however, as you can see," he pointed at the screen behind him, now filed with a star dotted background and centered around a red oval shaped blur.  

"The picture is horribly out of focus, it will take some time to properly reconstruct, after all military sats were not designed for this particular task."  It was a real shame they had lost the Hubble, that would have been a real asset then, but regretfully the satellite's orbit had begun to decay in the early days after second impact, odds were due to the shockwave itself. 

"In the meantime, Doctor Akagi, we want you in charge of the data analysis of this situation, you'll be having some additional help, from Section Four." he said pointing at the two exhausted section four analysts in the back of the room

"Captain Katsuragi," the sub commander said facing Misato "I'd like some procedure and deployment drafts on my desk by Monday."

"As for the rest of you," he said referring the bridge personnel "I want you on the look out of any strange reading, what ever it might be."

"Understood?"

"Yes Sir."

"Meeting adjourned."

"Captain, I need to have word with you, in private." 

"Sir?"

****

The sub Commander's office was small and spartan compared to the office of the Commander. Misato sometimes questioned how Ikari had managed to get away with that particular office, or why he had his office mostly empty save for the intricate designs that adorned its floor. It really made no sense to her. But to her credit, nobody ever made much sense out of the commander or his designs. Or at least no one managed to both succeed in doing so and live to tell the tale.

"Captain, I know you don't have any guidelines for the work I had assigned you, I really don't expect you to present me any sort of plan, at least not till Dr Akagi's team presents the preliminary."

"Morale?"

"Among other things, but I needed a reason to have you there."

"Angel?" 

"That's the problem, Captain, I have my doubts about it, even with our limited info, it just doesn't fit the pattern." Kozo paused for a moment, carefully measuring his words "What ever it might be, you know as well a I do that we have no chance of hurting it at the time being"

"It is bad enough that we don't have the initiative, but now..." Misato thought aloud

"Yes, Captain" Fuyutsuki started, breaking the captain out of her thoughts.  "However we should not be jumping to conclusions either." 

"Uh, sir; is there any news on the pilot's condition?" her mind was already analyzing the possibilities. The situation they were in was mostly bad, even if what the sensors picked up ended up being natural phenomena. They just didn't know how long would the angels give them. And with one pilot unconscious and another bedridden…

"From what I've heard the Doctors are quite optimistic.  They seem to think he should be waking up any time now."

 "Sir, is there anything else?"

"Well, the paperwork for yesterday's operation is already awaiting you in your desk, it would be interesting," he empathized  "If you could look into it right away, especially a complaint regarding… car batteries?" at the mention of that particular event Misato's right eye started to twitch.

"Uh... er, I understand sir; I'll take care of it right away."

"Very well Captain, then, you are dismissed."

Fuyutsuki calmly waited till Miss Katsuragi had left the room before picking up his phone.

He really had grown to enjoy these assignments. They were very 'amusing'.

"Commander?"

"Yes sir, it is done"

"No, they have reacted as expected"

"Very well, I'll keep you posted"

And with that he hung up

****

Three heavy-duty battle armors, HDBA Mk 3, made their way trough a decayed wasteland. They represented the pinnacle of X-Com's technology; biomechanical constructs that weren't truly alive, at last not by that dimension's standards.  The armors had been developed in the aftermath of the "Corporate war", based on a pre-existing design. They stood at over two meters in height and while at a distance they possessed that polished finish that most of the power armors share, close up one could see the porosity of the deep blue armor segments.

But perhaps the most particular feature of the suits was their looks. As a general rule, power armor design took a creature as a base for it. Be it insectile, demonic, or animalistic. True, there were a few that were just functional, like the first alien war era armors, but they tended to be a very small minority. After all, looks add to the armor's might, psychologically speaking.

X-Com's state of the art suit looked like a former foe, one that most soldiers hoped to never encounter. A being that had starred in the nightmares of veterans and survivors alike, a plague upon the earth, to some, and a real daemon to others.  Simply put it resembled a Chryssalid, even if lightly.  That most of the troopers painted the characteristical grinning teeth on the helmet's 'mouth' only helped to add to the armor's intimidation factor.

But squad leader Nyoka Beltran was not concerned with things like that. He was trying to remain calm, focusing on the armor's sensor suite.  A real mess this was, they had lost contact with _Focus_ and _Shield_ over five minutes ago, and the damned ruins were prime grounds for ambushes.

What was worse was that they, _Veldt_, had been running heavy weapons, more particularly, he and Ross were fielding the heavy type fives and battle shields, leaving Rochan with a devastator, and an advanced blade on her forearm's hard points to provide close quarter's support and to work as an FO of sorts.  They were far from being the most versatile of units. 

"Sir?" Ross was doing a poor job in hiding the nervousness in his voice.

"Yeah?"

"I think I caught something in the scanner, a bit further a head."

"I did too."  So this is it, thought Nyoka, he was quite sure that what ever had taken out 'shield' and 'focus' would be coming for them soon enough, but... "Ok guys, look alive, let's tighten up the formation, Rochen, I want you on my flank."  It was time to change the game a bit…

"Sure sir."

Tension began to skyrocket from then on; they were ill suited for fending off whatever assailant was stalking them, unless it, or they decided to stand in front of them. But if _Focus_ and S_hield_, who were well suited for that task, were taken out so easily, they were in the proverbial hot water.

"Voomeroid!"

And then everything seemed to happen in slow motion.  Rochen diving towards the collapsed wall on their left. Ross moving his shield to block the bulk of the explosion.  Nyoka himself moving past Ross, before raising his shield as well and bracing himself for the shockwave.

Rochen was the first to go down, while she had not been the closest to the explosion, the pile of derbies that she had chosen as her shelter had left her exposed to the attackers from the flank.  Half dazed from the blast she had been no challenge.

That was when Ross panicked and started to fire the type five blindly towards Rochen's last position.

Streak after streak of the purple disruption beam filled the battlefield, doing no particular good to Veldt squad.

"Damn it Ross…" Nyoka was furious, that imbecile was going to get them both killed.

With the energy discharges, his sensors were dulled at best.  He was now fighting half blind, and he was quite certainly the next one to...  It was then when the 'dull' end of a heat lance was jabbed in between his feet, sending him crashing onto the floor.

It was out of pure luck that he was able to turn around and parry the lance with his type five.  He should have used his shield, but regretfully, he had turned over on his right side and that left the heavy battle shield pinned underneath the armor's bulk. Not that it would have been of any use. Those shields had been designed for range engagements, to withstand heavy punishment from equally heavy weapons, or even craft weaponry.  They were somewhat awkward to wield in close combat situations, especially against something like a heat lance.  But it was a one time deal. While considerably durable, the weapon was no match against the piercing tip of the heat lance. He felt the weapon snap even before the polearm retracted.

Well, at least he had been able see the stealth armor clad figure of his executioner.  And then the lance came down once again.

****

_Veldt_, _Shield_ and _Focus_ were assembled in the main training hall of the Starlance, in front of a completely pissed off Colonel Alaris.

"Well, I hope you are happy with yourselves. You have all been beaten by one, ONE, stealth suit." He said while passing to and fro in front of the men and women of alpha platoon.

"So, enlighten me, how did you made it to the X-Com?" he paused facing the first row "No, really, I am curious how a bunch of dead end ASSHOLES like you made it here."

"I knew I'd have a lot of work with you, but never thought it would get to this level." The Colonel's face slowly made the transition between annoyance and anger "Now let me tell you something. We are in an unusual combat situation, by X-Com's standards, we are VERY far away from home and we cannot afford casualties, that means, ladies and gentlemen, that you are NOT ALLOWED TO DIE."  He carefully empathized each and every of those last words

"We are going to do things differently, from now on. It is quite obvious that you are all lacking in close combat abilities. Everybody is going to report to the training mat on the main gym, on the double. But this little incident is not going to be devoid of consequences," he said narrowing his eyes.  "Each time any of you makes a 'critical mistake', as to speak, or gets killed stupidly in the sims, their whole squad are going to 'volunteer' for jobs such as hull inspection, is that clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Good," he said as he eyed each and every one of the soldiers of alpha platoon. His voice was now neutral, almost devoid of emotion, save for the predatory grin on his face. 

He really didn't wanted to do it that way, there were just too many risks involved in that particular approach. That had been why he had wanted the abort, not that it mattered anymore.  And on any case, he was going to have his hands full, at least for the time being.

******

It was almost four hours later when he felt mercy for the first platoon. That and he was expected by his commanding officer. Truth be told he had been impressed by the performance of some of the members of alpha. 

It was not that they were bad, no; they were professional enough, for earth or even X-Com's standards. Problem was that the mission required something far above that, but that was all the senate had deemed necessary, or expendable.  It had cost a lot to get the authorization for the mission; the Senate, the people of Mega-Primus and mankind in general were getting comfortable again. But they would not let them follow that path once again. Last time it had been disastrous enough... hell, it had been nearly fatal.

"Commander?"

"At ease Colonel. What do you have for me?"

"This is my report sir," he said handing over a PDA. Commander Bastough grabbed the device and began to scan through it. It was a standard proficiency report, all in percentages or in scales, determining the total readiness of the different units and individuals, and also the particular abilities of each and every one of the active combat personnel of the Starlance.

"What is your opinion, informally I mean?"

"Well, they are mostly ok, some gaps here and there, especially when I max up the pressure and regretfully they are still soft on the teamwork. But that is to be expected, they were included rather late. But it's nothing that cannot be fixed."  Bastough nodded knowingly. Alaris' abilities were quite well known; he was not called 'The Angel of Death' for no reason. But in any case, it meant that they were not as under prepared for the current situation as he had originally thought.

On the other hand, Matias had noted the commander's expression and correctly presumed his commanding officer's line of thought. The Ganymede disaster was something he knew was going to haunt him until the last of his days.  True, he did enjoy close combat, true, he had done extensive quantities of it during the whole Ganymede fiasco and true, most of the pirates had been hacked into several pieces… but calling him a bloodthirsty bastard based on that was going a bit overboard.  However, it was also true that the blood-covered armor or the blood smeared floors had not helped his case in the least.

"It seems we'll have to make do with what we have colonel, hopefully we won't be entering any kind of assault situation in the foreseeable future. Perhaps we'll have the time.

How is the morale issue?"

"Still shaken, sir, all units lost their psi squad.  Whilst most of them had not been close enough to be a real hit, they had been starting to get close."  Alaris paused in mid rant, returning to the business at hand.  "Uh, do you have any news regarding…?"

"No changes, at least none yet."  It was a real problem.  Most if not all of the psi proactive crewmembers were still in a deep coma. As far as anyone could tell, the shift had had a psi shockwave effect, and as best as they could tell, it was similar to a 'psi grenade', but on a much larger scale.  They had also lost people connected to the ships neural net too, due to the backlash, including a full bridge crew, but some of them had already begun to awaken. It was good news, but sadly this seemed to be the only good news so far. The irony in all this was that the ship had been provided with a specialist in the field of psi induced trauma, regretfully he was a hybrid, and like his potential patients he was in a deep coma as well. 

"In any case, it is not our main preoccupation, at least not now. I am far more concerned with the planet 'situation,'" he said, referring to the doppelganger earth.

"Any breaks on it?"

"The intelligence division is working full time on that. They seem to be having some problems infiltrating the targeted computer network, apparently the system is a bit more advanced that what we had originally thought.  However, Hoffman thinks she'll be able to have all things set to start ops in ten days tops."  The core of the problem seemed to be the difference in the computing systems. And coming up with a translation routine efficient enough, so as to not being noticed by the watchdogs, was something that was taking some time.  Of course his ordering of an undercover insertion into the systems was taxing most of the ship's computer experts, but it was hardly the main concern, at least not for the time being.  They had some time, not much true, but he was not going to authorize any black ops before reaching lunar orbit, which was still a good week away at their current speed. 

They were going to use the moon as a shield to block the planet's sensors, hiding beneath its shadow. Things would have been so much easier if they would have reached an alien world.  He knew that they'd need to start conversations with the planetside authorities, but establishing said communication was not going to be easy...

The bottom line was that the current delay meant that the intelligence ops were going to be running a little late, but it wasn't as if they were under a deadline or a very tight schedule.

"Be as it may, I'll be meeting Hoffman in a few hours, she should be giving me an up to date report…"

"Very well, sir. Anything else?"

"Not at the moment Colonel, you are dismissed."

Even as Alaris left his office, Bastough had returned at watching the full video feed they had on the giant monstrosities and to the notes the intelligence ops had put together.  It wasn't much, and yet it was more than enough.

****

It had taken some time for Shinji Ikari's consciousness to return.  His unconscious state was likely due to the trauma of the battle, or perhaps it was the drastic changes which had suddenly turned his routine existence upside down.  Though, perhaps it was due to the built up pressure of meeting his father once again.

With his return to consciousness, a good part of his mind was wondering exactly what had happened, or to put it another way, why he was still alive.  Whilst his memories were still a bit stirred, he did remember being trashed by that monster, but the alien environment of the hospital room he was currently in did not help his state of mind one bit.

"Oh, you are awake," a calm and decidedly female voice spoke from outside his field of view.  Truth was, he had been so engrossed in trying to figure things out, that he had detached a bit from the rest of the world.  That was probably why he had not seen speaker, who turned out to be a nurse.  Yeah, well, it was to be expected. After all, the place looked like a hospital room, at least to Shinji.

"Uhmm... err… wha…?" he half mumbled while trying to incorporate himself. But before he could finish that endeavor, his progress was met with the steady yet somehow gentle arms of the nurse

"Calm down young man," she said giving Shinji a caring glance.  "You still need some rest, you had quite the ordeal." 

"I er… what… what… happ…?" he managed a bit more coherently

"You must have lots of questions, but I'm sure that if you are patient enough, somebody from the first section should come around to answer most of them better than I could."   Officially that's it, it was not as if the whole base didn't know what the kid had done, but she had been ordered to leave that part to Captain Katsuragi.  "Now, tell me, are you hungry?"

"uh… yeah, that'd be good?" truth was he wasn't very hungry, but he had a horrible taste in his mouth

"Good, I'll go get something for you… I shouldn't be gone for too long," she said with a wink.  "Oh, by the way, thank you; you did something terribly brave the other day. We wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you... I… I wanted you to know that," having said that, the nurse turned around and walked toward the door, leaving a very confused Ikari Shinji behind.

****

In any case, at least from then on, things had seemed to slow down to a more, reasonable pace.  It was easier to absorb the whole thing that way. 

Originally he had come here to try to make up with his father, or at least that was what he thought his father had wanted.  It hurt.  He had used him.  He had abandoned him when he most needed a parent, because it was inconvenient, and now he had called, not to fix the damage, but because he had a use of him.  Perhaps if he'd remembered the happier times he'd have wondered what had happened to his father.  

Still, Miss Katsuragi's offer to become his legal guardian had been one than he had expected.  True she was odd, but…

It was hard for him to put it into words. No matter if it was out of pity, or convenience. The little exchange the captain had had with apparently Dr Akagi, was less that encouraging.  And her driving didn't help his opinion of Misato much.  Nor did her cleaning habits or her cooking…  but now, before him was the chance to belong to a family, even if it was a small on.  It wasn't much, but somehow deep within, it felt good.  Never mind the reasons; it was something more than he had. And at least for the time being it didn't make him regret coming as much as he had expected. It might even be worth staying.

********************** 

Well that is for now.

I suppose I should have some more insightful comments or some witty phrases, but to be honest I can't really think of anything. So if any of the people reading this have a doubt or anything, please send me an email.

I had a few more scenes to add but I figure that this is a better place to end this here.

A big thank you goes to Ezstairus for his prereading.


End file.
